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(N6 Model.)

H. BQN IOKERSONL COMBINED GHAI'P, AND FISEPLATE FOR RAILROAD JOINTS. No. 288,656.

Patented Nov. 20, 1883.

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u. PETERS PMlM-ilhcgnphor. Wilmington, ma

V ljnrrnn STATES PATENT FFICE.

HIRAM B. NIOKERSON, OF NEW BEDFORD, MASSACHUSETTS.

COMBINED CHAIR AND FISH-PLATE FOR RAILROAD-JOINTS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 288,656, datedNovember 20, 1883. Application filed March 29, 1883. (No model.)

bined Chair and Fish-Plate for Railroad-- Joints, of which the followingis a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, in which- 1. Figures 1 and2are perspective views of my combined chair and fish-plate. Fig. 3 represents the application of my invention for supporting and uniting the contiguous ends of two rails, where the joint between them is located 1 directly over a sleeper or cross-tie. Fig. 4represents the application of my invention to a joint when located between two sleepers. Fig. 5 is a longitudinal horizontal section. Fig. 6 is a transverse vertical section.

provide a reliable and permanent support and connection for the contiguous ends of two railroad-rails; and it consists in a combined chair and fish-plate having one or more ears or lugs 2 projecting from each side of the lower portion or chair, said ears or lugs being designed to rest upon a sleeper and to be fastened thereto, the fish-plate, chair, and ears or lugs being formed integral with each other.

To enable others skilled in the art to understand and use my invention, I will proceed to describe the manner in which I have carried it out. I

In Fig. 1 of said drawings, A represents a plate of metal, preferably of wrought-iron or steel, consisting of a lower horizontal portion, a, an ear or lug, I), projectingout from each side thereof and in the same plane therewith, two inclined side portions, 0 c, and two vertical portions, cl cl, said plate being designed as a support and connection for the'contiguous ends of two railroad-rails, B B, where the joint between them comes directly over a sleeper, 0. (See Fig. 3.) The bottoms of the contiguous ends of two rails rest upon the horizontal portion a of the plate A. The ears or lugs b I) rest upon the sleeper O, and are firmly secured theretoby spikes c c, driven through holes h h. The two side inclines, c c, are made 50 to snugly embrace the upper inclined surface My present invention has for its object to of the flange at the base of the rails, while the vertical portions (1 (Z of the plate abut against the sides of the upright central or shank portion of the rails. Near each end of each vertical portion d is formed a hole, 2', for the entrance of a bolt, is, which passes into and through the hole Z in the end of the rail B, in line and opposite'thereto, the threaded end of the bolt having a screwnut, m, turned thereover, and the holes, both in the rail and vertical portionsof the plate, being of greater length than height, to allow for the contraction and expansion of the rails, due to changes of temperature. The weight of the train on the rails causes the vertical portions (2 d of 6 the plate to slightly spring outward and press against the nuts m m, thus preventing them from turning, the employment of washers be ing thereby rendered unnecessary.

In Fig. 4, where the joint is represented as being located between two sleepers, G O, I employ a plate, A, Fig. 2, of a length sufficient to extend over upon each of them, and I secure each end of such plate to its sleeper by spikes driven through holes in lugs or cars formed near each end of the plate.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the plate A performs the double office of a chair and a fish-plate, and that as both of them, as well as the ears or lugs projecting from the former, are formed in one and the same piece, great security and permanence of the connection of the ends of the rails are thereby insured.

The mechanism by which my aforesaid plate is produced will form the subject-matter of a future application for patent.

The lugs are formed from material wholly within or inside of the edges of the blank, and the larger stronger portion thereof is bent upward to form the fish-plate. Thus each part is better adapted to withstand the strain to which it is subjected than if the lugs were separated from the remaining portion of the blank by slitting it from its edge inwardly, 9 as heretofore.

1. As an improvement in supports and connections of railroad-rails, the chair, fish-plate, and ears or lugs formed integral with each LII other the latter being disposed in a common the edges of the blank, as'a'nd for the purpose 10 plane with the base of the chair, and formed set forth.

from material located entirely within the edges \Vitness my hand this 26th day of March,

of the blank, substantially as described. 1888.

2. The combined chair and fish-plate with ears or lugs b I projecting out from the center HIR'AM NICKERSOL' of the sides of the former, and disposed in a In presence of common plane with' the base of the chair, and I OHAs. M. REED,

formed from material located entirely within i N. NV. STEARNS. 

